Track of the Day: 'Brick Moon'

By Brendan Hasenstab

These days, it seems like you can hardly go a week without
discovering another great band from Portland, Oregon. In fact, I'd be
willing to bet that city's musician density may even top my beloved
Brooklyn.

In any case, today, I'm proud to introduce you to
Night Surgeon, known to their families as Patrick Replogle and John
Boyd. This duo plays a lively breed of new-wave/ indie/synth pop, but
they do it with unusual polish. What you'll hear is the sound of two
Berklee School of Music graduates cranking out top-grade tunes with
complex arrangements of smart lyrics, buzzy synths, lightly-funky
guitar, and yes, real drums. In all, it's a big, bright sound that
stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Cut Copy or other up-and-comers like Starlings or Penguin Prison.

"Brick
Moon" takes aim at the artificial nature of so many aspects of modern
life--"If only we could remain close/Inside a world full of live
ghosts," Patrick sings, "The only thing I trust/Is you and me here." In
the final 45 seconds, they amp up the drama by taking the music down a
notch, and posing The Big Question: "If everyone's so synthetic/It's
getting harder to tell/Are we human/Or are we digital?" I'll leave you
to ponder that one. Meanwhile, I'm going to give the song another spin.